ALICE Software Manual for Wisconsin

Transcription

1 ALICE Software Manual for Wisconsin Updated January 14, 214 About this manual This manual is intended to be a guide for Wisconsin domestic violence and sexual assault programs that need to report to state funders. It covers what you need to know in order to collect and report data accurately to DCF, SAVS and VOCA funders. It is not meant to be a complete guide. There are many other options and features of Alice that will not be mentioned here that you may find useful. This manual may be updated periodically. If you are on the Wisconsin Alice users list you will be notified. This manual has been created by Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence and is not a product of the software manufacturer, nor has it been reviewed or endorsed by the manufacturer. WCADV makes no claims to the accuracy of this manual. Discrepancies between instructions in this document and the Alice Help information contained within the software may be errors in either the manual or in Alice Help, or due to changes in the software that have been implemented after publication of this manual. Please contact the WCADV Technology Coordinator (Vicki Berenson, vickib@wcadv.org, phone ) or the software vendor (Mark Shapiro, infocus@swbell.net, phone ) if you have questions or comments. Helpful tips: Click on an entry in the Contents to jump to that section. Press Ctrl + Home on your keyboard to return to the beginning. Printing: Be forewarned that there may be frequent updates to this manual which can change the page numbering and Contents. You may want to limit printing to just certain sections. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [1] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

2 Contents About this manual... 1 Basic configuration... 6 Installation... 6 Upgrades... 6 Backup strategy... 7 Alice Help... 8 WCADV Help... 8 How Alice Data is Organized... 8 Client Intakes... 9 Find and Load... 9 Client Activities... 9 Case Notes... 1 Other Forms... 1 Non-client items... 1 If there isn t a place to enter something... 1 Customizing for your agency Best Practices Users Staff Names Agency Options Miscellaneous What should be entered into Alice? Customizing for Funders Edit menu vs. Utility menu What kinds of things need to be customized? Customizing for Funders Step-by-Step Make some fields mandatory Create custom fields Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [2] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

3 3. Modify drop-down lists Configure Funders Configure your Services/Activities Associate Service Names with service types Associate Event Categories with Service Types View your Service Names associations Where do reports get their information? Entering Client Information Overview About these instructions Screens... 2 Types of Fields... 2 Saving Incomplete Records About Client Types and Intakes Enter a Hotline Record Turnaways (in person) Enter an Outreach (Intake) Client Enter an Adult Shelter Client Enter a Child Shelter Client Find and Load an Existing Client New intake for an existing client who has returned Children becoming adults while receiving services... 3 Load a client to a different screen... 3 Departures Enter a Departure record Why enter Departure records? When to Depart a client Enter Services (Activities) Enter services for an individual client Enter services for several clients at once Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [3] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

4 Volunteers Events Configure Events Enter Events Event Reports Reports Wisconsin Funder Report Requirements Wisconsin DCF Domestic Violence Report Error checking Wisconsin SAVS report VOCA report - Wisconsin HUD annual performance report Other useful reports Client Lists Reports for checking data Activity reports Query reports Create your own reports Save and Export reports Filtering reports Clusters Funder Staff Dates Other features Print blank forms Print client information My Clients Case notes Preferences Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [4] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

5 Reminders Calendars Referral sources Waiting list Abuser form Troubleshooting I can t see or change a date for a report I want to run Dependents not counted on funder reports I can t find my client I have lots of clients with the same name on Find tab My reports show more clients than I have My reports show more services than they should Users often forget to include information that is necessary for reports How do I know if I am deleting or disabling an option? Appendices Alice software installation options... 1 Alice installation worksheet... 4 Alice Customizing for Funders Checklist... 1 Technical Support Provider Confidentiality Agreement... 1 How Service Types link to reports... 1 Editing Service Names, Types and Characteristics... 1 Customizing Service Categories and Service Names... 1 How to make children s activities count on the DCF Report... 1 Sample DCF Report... 1 Sample SAVS Report... 1 Sample VOCA Report... 1 Hotline Callers what counts where... 1 Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [5] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

6 Basic configuration Installation Alice can be installed in many ways depending on your program s needs and computer network configuration. It s important to keep track of how you ve installed Alice to make it easier for you or for a technician to install upgrades. See Appendices Alice software installation options and Alice installation worksheet for more details on installation and a place to record this information for ease with future upgrades. Here is the information you should have available for upgrades: - Location of Alice installation/files - Location of the Alice shared folder - An administrator login and password to the server or computer where Alice is installed - A list of computers that are accessing Alice over the internet (whether in the office or at another location) Upgrades Upgrades come out 3 times a year. Upgrades fix reported issues and often include new features that users have requested. Be sure you install the most recent upgrade. You will receive an Alice upgrade notice by 3 times a year assuming you have paid your annual renewal fee. It provides links and instructions to download and install the upgrade. If you are not receiving these messages please contact Mark Shapiro at or infocus@swbell.net and provide your current Alice administrator s contact information. To install your upgrade you need to know the Alice configuration at your agency. Use the Alice installation worksheet to help you keep a record and to make step-by-step notes so you don t have to figure it out every time. If you pay tech support you might want to watch them do it and take notes so you can do it yourself in the future. The vendor (Mark Shapiro, infocus@swbell.net, phone ) is also available to walk you through the upgrade process if you are having problems (a service included in your Alice support fee). *Pay careful attention to detailed instructions in the upgrade letter just in case there is something unusual with a particular upgrade. The basic steps are: 1. Download the upgrade to the computer where the Alice program is installed. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [6] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

7 2. Temporarily stop the Alice server (from the icon or the list of Services in Administrative tools). 3. Install the upgrade (from the download) 4. Update the Alice shared folder (this may happen automatically depending on your setup). This is important. If you don t do this, shortcuts to Alice computers in your agency will not point to the new version and people will get an error message when trying to run Alice. 5. Restart the Alice server. Remote users: If you have other locations (outreach offices, or individual computers in your office that are connected through the internet but not an office network) you will need to make sure they replace their Alice files with the most recent versions of these 4 files from the Alice shared folder. The first one is the actual program and the others are different versions of the help files. Alice.exe Alice.chm Alice.pdf Alice_Help.exe Remote users will also need 2 other files if this is the first time you are providing remote access, (or if you are asking them to replace all of their Alice remote files at once): american.adm - doesn t generally change proxy.ini - a separate edited version that contains the following line (substitute your server s external IP address for the x s): ServerAddress=xxx.xx.xxx.xxx You can these files in a compressed (.zip) folder. Backup strategy Unless you have changed the settings in Utility > Database Back-up Options, Alice makes a backup of its tables in the Alice\Back subfolder at 3AM every night. This will help if any files or tables become corrupt. But it won t help if the computer goes down and you can t retrieve the tables. Be sure that you regularly make a copy of the files in the Alice\Tables folder in at least one other place: a flash drive, backup hard drive, rewritable CD/DVD, or another computer. If your server already has a backup system, make sure it includes the Alice\Tables folder. Although Alice data cannot be read by anyone without a user login, it is best to keep any devices that have backup copies of the Alice data in a secure place so that your data remains confidential. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [7] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

8 Alice Help Help > Alice Help or ebook Help or PDF Help The definitive answers to how Alice works can be found in the Alice Help files. You will find much more detailed information than in this manual. If you find discrepancies between this manual and what it says in Alice Help, please contact WCADV. Alice Help files are updated along with each upgrade. If Alice Help doesn t work for you, try one of the others they all contain the same information. If you don t find what you are looking for in the Contents, try the Index. You may have to type in a few different keywords or scroll through the list to find what you are looking for in the title of the help pages. The Search tab looks for the words you type in any of the text in help, so you will get more results to wade through. Each custom report has its own help page, and describes in detail how the data is pulled for that report. Information on canned Alice reports can be found under each report type. Help for Wisconsin reports can be found in the index under: VOCA Report Wisconsin Wisconsin DCF domestic violence annual report Wisconsin SAVS report (Wisconsin sexual assault report (WCASA) not used yet) The help documents are the last word on how data entered in Alice makes it to each report. This manual is partly intended to clarify the information in Alice help. WCADV Help WCADV website: MEMBERS > Alice software help There are several recorded training webinars on the WCADV website that can help you learn and understand how to upgrade Alice and use it for Wisconsin funder reporting. If you don t have a member login to the WCADV website please contact the WCADV office at How Alice Data is Organized This is a very brief description and doesn t include everything about Alice. The most important thing to understand in Alice is that intakes are separate from services. You can enter an intake but the client won t be counted on Wisconsin funder reports unless you also enter some kind of services including nights of shelter. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [8] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

9 Client Intakes Adult Shelter, Child Shelter, Outreach/Intake or Hotline (tabs) This is where you can enter all the basic information about a client. You don t enter anything you ve done with/for the client here. You can transfer clients from one type of intake to another for example, if a hotline caller comes in for counseling, or if a client leaves shelter but comes in to attend a group. Most of the client s intake information will transfer so you don t have to retype. Intakes are for a client for a set period of time. Information on an intake can be edited if it changes during that time. If the client leaves and returns later for more services, you can create a new intake for that client with different information, and the old intake will be preserved. NOTE: Services you record are connected to an intake not the client so the Activity screen will only show services that were entered for the intake you have loaded. About ID #s Each client should have a unique ID#, whether you have automatically created it or are using your own system. This ID# connects all of the intakes and other activities and records you may have to the client, which is necessary to report unduplicate client counts. (You can find clients with the same name but different ID#s with the Audit button on the Find screen; if they are the same person change the ID# on one of the intakes to make them count as one client. Find and Load Find (tab) In order to add information to a client s record you must first find the client s intake or hotline record, then load it to one of the data screens. Besides the screens you see tabs for across the top, there are other screens that can be found in the Data Type drop-down box on the Find screen. Client Activities Activity (tab) Activities are all of the services a client receives, including shelter nights. Each service has a date and may also have other information with it, such as funder, staff or notes. You can view all of the services for a client intake by loading it to the Activity tab. If a client has multiple intakes you will need to load each one to see the services during each period of time. Services can be entered for one client at a time on the Activity screen or for several clients at once using the Roster screen. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [9] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

10 Case Notes Load client to Data Type: Case Notes Case notes can be entered for a client, and optionally visible only by the creator or a department, or made unalterable. Various agency-wide options can be set for case notes, including the option to delete them all when a client exits (departure record is created). If you use case notes, consider that they may be subject to subpoena. Don t record anything in Alice that you wouldn t keep in a client s paper file. Other Forms Other Forms such as Legal, HMIS Data, Sexual Assault, etc. are available from bottom of the Find screen or with the airplane icon at the top right of most screens. There are many other screens, including: Sexual Assault (incident details) HMIS Data (for HUD reporting) Legal Outcomes Lots more Load a client to one of these screens to see what you can record. Be sure to follow best practices: don t record anything in Alice that you wouldn t keep in a paper file, or that you wouldn t want to submit in the event of a subpoena. Non-client items The File and Community menu have places to track things that aren t associated with specific clients such as volunteers and events, and features like mailboxes and messaging. Under Tools you can set your own preferences and defaults, print blank forms or take a screenshot to copy to a document or . If there isn t a place to enter something Here are some ways to track things there is not already a place for, in order of how easy it is to get them out on reports: Add options to existing drop-down or multiple choice lists (Utility menu) Add a data tracking item for client information not part of an intake, activity or outcome (Edit menu) Add custom fields (Edit menu) Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [1] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

11 Customizing for your agency There are many options you can set. Each program will have to decide what is best for their agency. Best Practices Taking the time to do these will make it much easier to enter data and generate reports: Adapt your intake forms and hotline call sheets or checklists to match what you need to enter in Alice. Make fields mandatory that you know will need to be filled in for clients to count on reports. Disable fields and forms you aren t using. Test reports periodically for short periods of time to make sure your data matches what you know. Users Utility > Edit User Name Table, click on your agency. You must log in as the Alice Administrator or have Wizard permission to enter or edit users. Users are people who enter data. You can have one or more users enter data for the whole agency, or you can have each staff member enter their own. Users are different from Staff. If you will want to track activities or generate reports based on who provided the service, you will need to enter staff and/or volunteers in a different place, and then select them when you enter intakes, hotline calls and activities. Each user has a set of permissions. See User Authorization Levels in Alice help for details on each one. In the User Names & Authority window select the Edit button at the bottom left, then click on a user to see or change permissions. The Alice Administrator is set by Infocus and can access everything for all agencies that have been installed. Infocus keeps a record of the administrator login. Additional agencies must be added by Infocus. Wizard authority allows access to pretty much everything, but only for their agency (if you have multiple agencies). Full authority allows access to the Edit menu but not the Utility menu. Look at the menus to see what items can be modified in each one. Basic authority is good for staff who enter data but don t need to be able to customize any of the options or lists. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [11] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

12 Other levels further restrict what users can do, and may be useful for volunteers or staff who don t need access to client data. Note the checkboxes for Additional Authority. Select other buttons and click on a user to: Deactivate the user (but preserve the data that they have entered) Restrict access to certain forms Designate access to specific agencies if you have more than one agency. Staff Names Edit > Staff > Staff Names Enter staff/volunteer names if you be tracking activities or generating reports based on who provided the service. You will need to select staff names for intakes, hotline calls and activities. You can delete staff when they are no longer with your agency so they no longer show up on the drop-down list. If their names have been entered on any forms, their names will be disabled but they will still appear where they have been entered and on reports. You can also set a default funder to automatically fill the funder field when entering an Activity and selecting a staff person. Agency Options Utility > Manage Agencies, click on your agency. You will find several pages of options which you ll need to look through to see if any are applicable to your agency. Most can probably remain as is. Take care with how you change them: think about the potential for subpoena, as well as the frustration level for advocates entering or using data. Here are some of the choices: Lock records from access by other users or departments Prevent locking records Prevent changes in records Hide medical, mental health and substance abuse data on exit Disable forms including mental health, injury diagram, and abuser information Disable Save incomplete record button Delete case notes and client calendar entries on exit If you use case notes, see Case notes in Alice help for more details. Miscellaneous Utility > Utility Tasks >Set First Calendar Year Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [12] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

13 Make sure your First Calendar Year is set to the first year you entered data in Alice. This will make the dates available when you run reports. What should be entered into Alice? There are so many kinds of information you can keep track of in Alice. The same principles that apply to paper record-keeping apply here. Consider these things: What do you need to report to funders? Any client information you enter is as vulnerable to subpoena as something in a paper file. While you can set Alice to hide medical/mental health/substance abuse data and delete case notes and client calendar entries on exit, all of that information will be there until you enter a departure record. Some things might be nice to know, but just because there is a place to record it, does its usefulness balance the potential intrusion on a client s privacy? Is the information useful enough to balance the potential burden on staff to collect and record it? Customizing for Funders You must make certain changes to Alice so that DCF, VOCA and SAVS reports can pull data correctly. Spending the time to organize the services you provide will make it easier for staff to enter data correctly. You may also decide to disable some fields or forms or make certain fields mandatory to further assist with data-entry. See Best Practices. Alice includes customized reports for Wisconsin DCF, SAVS and VOCA funders. In order for these reports to be accurate there are several things you will need to do in advance. You will also need to make sure users know how to enter their data correctly. (Alice has hundreds of built-in reports that can give you just about any information you want, but you would have to combine the results of several reports to get what you need for each funder report, and do some work to unduplicate client counts). You must be the Alice Administrator or have Wizard permission to customize. Edit menu vs. Utility menu Anything you change on the Utility menu affects ALL agencies (if you have more than one), and changes on the Edit menu affect only the selected agency. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [13] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

14 What kinds of things need to be customized? Add/edit choices in some drop-down lists (Utility menu) Create custom fields (Edit menu) Associate Service Names and Event Categories with Service Types (Edit menu) Add funder - VOCA only (Edit menu) Make some fields mandatory optional but advisable (Edit menu) Customizing for Funders Step-by-Step 1. Make some fields mandatory Edit > Enable/Disable/Make Mandatory Data-Entry Fields Make the ID# field mandatory for Adult-Shelter, Child-Shelter, Outreach/Intake and Hotline forms. You need it for all of your funder reports. (Edit menu) Make the Abuse status field mandatory for Adult-Shelter, Child-Shelter, Outreach/Intake and hotline forms if you have VOCA funding. 2. Create custom fields Edit > Custom Fields NOTES: Spell custom fields exactly as below for them to appear on funder reports. If you already have one that is misspelled but means the same thing you can change it. (If you have more than one custom field that mean the same thing and you delete one of them, you will lose the data that you have entered. You may want to create a configurable report first to list the data before you delete it. See Configurable reports). For each custom field, make it mandatory if it applies to a lot of your clients, or if it is required for a funder report. Balance this with the fact that you will then HAVE to enter something (even if the answer is no or unknown ) To disable or make mandatory a custom field, use the checkbox that appears when you create or edit a field. DCF Add to Adult-Shelter, Child-Shelter, Outreach/Intake and Hotline custom forms. You can add the field to one, and then copy to the others. DCF Report? (for all clients reporting DV) Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [14] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

15 Add to Adult-Shelter, Child-Shelter, and Outreach/Intake custom forms. You can add the field to one, and then copy to the others. Southeast Asian SAVS Add to Adult-Shelter, Child-Shelter, Outreach/Intake and Hotline custom forms. SAVS Report? (for all clients reporting SA) Presented with DV, getting SA services (for dual agencies: Domestic violence with sexual assault. Hotline callers will count here only if activities that count on the SAVS report are entered for the caller) 3. Modify drop-down lists Utility > Edit Drop-Down List Items * WARNING: Don t change the text in existing choices unless it means the same thing as the original. In some cases the text has to stay as is in order to correctly show up on some of the funder reports. DCF Add these options to Primary language on the adult shelter, child shelter, outreach/intake and hotline forms: Hmong Russian American Sign Language Note: Other does NOT include English. You may wish to rename it Other not English just to be sure data is entered correctly. Add these options to the Background list on the adult shelter, child shelter and outreach/intake forms: Youth IPV Limited English Proficiency (if it is not already there) VOCA Add options to the Victim Type list on the adult shelter, child shelter outreach/intake and hotline forms. You may use different (or more) options as long as you can use the results of the VOCA report to fit them into the categories below. (The VOCA report will list the client count for anything you enter in the Victim Type field). Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [15] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

16 NOTE: You may edit an existing option but if it already has data entered, make sure your new wording means the same thing as the old one. Child Abuse/Sexual Child Abuse/Physical Domestic Violence Adult Sexual Assault Adult/Molested as Child Other Violent Crime Elder Abuse Drunk Driving Survivor of Homicide Victim Assault Robbery Other Violent Crime Property Crime Other/Unknown 4. Configure Funders Edit > Services and Funders > Program Funders Edit > Services and Funders > Default Funder for Staff, Service Names, or Clients VOCA Add VOCA to your Program Funders list. Edit > Services and Funders > Program Funders Optional: Make the Funder field mandatory for activities and hotline calls. If you do this be sure to add a funder named Other if you want to be able to save records without entering a specific funder. Optional: To make VOCA data-entry a little easier, you can make VOCA the default funder for any Service Name, Staff Name, or active client. You would want to do this for any of these that are always VOCA-funded. VOCA will automatically fill in as the funder when the staff is selected on an intake form or when entering an activity. You can choose VOCA as the default funder if MOST of your entries will be VOCA funded, but then you will have to remember to delete VOCA from the funder field if it isn t. This may work better than remembering to enter VOCA as the funder if it is not set as the default; whatever works best for you. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [16] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

17 DCF & SAVS There is no need to enter a funder for DCF or SAVS. DCF wants data for all clients with DV issues regardless of funder. SAVS wants data on all clients with SA issues regardless of funder (with a separate count for those who present with DV but have also SA issues). HUD/HMIS Before you install the fall 212 upgrade you will need to create a funder for HMIS records, even if you don t get HUD funding. Other will work fine, but you will be asked to choose a default funder for HMIS records when you do the upgrade. 5. Configure your Services/Activities DCF, VOCA and SAVS Decide what services you will use. Activity screen Select each Service Category and look at the Service Names in the drop-down lists. Do these make sense for your agency? Do you need to add any services that you provide? Do you need to change the wording of a service name to match what your agency calls it? Do you need to be able to report more specific services than the ones listed? Edit, delete or add services Edit > Services and Funders > Service Names Choose a service category and edit, delete or add new names in each category to match your list. If you delete a name that has data, it will be disabled, so your existing data will still show up on reports. Be careful about renaming an existing service if it has been used: make sure you don t change the meaning of it. (You can edit/add/remove Service Categories. However, if your categories don t reflect the type of client, you may lose the ability to use a new feature that came out with the April 212 upgrade. This allows you to limit what categories are shown on the Activity/Roster tabs depending on the type of client that is loaded). See APPENDIX X Customizing Service Categories and Names for details on how to do this. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [17] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

18 6. Associate Service Names with service types Edit > Services and Funders > Service Names *This is the essential step where you tell Alice how Service Names are funneled to funder reports!!! Any Service Name that doesn t have an associated Service Type will NOT count on Wisconsin funder reports. Select each Service Category to edit the Service Names in it. Click on each service name to edit it: - Check the box next to the appropriate Service Types based on the instructions for each report. Some of the options may seem like the right ones but only service types listed in the Alice help for each report will cause the service to be counted on that report. You can choose more than one service type for each Service Name, but only one for each report. - Check the correct characteristic for bed nights, group activity and telephone contact on the right. - Click Change when you are done with each Service Name. Do this for disabled Service Names, too, if you have any data in them that you need to include in your reports: Click the Show Inactive Only button to view and click disabled Service Names. See Editing Service Names, Types and Characteristics in the Appendix for details on how to do this. See How Service Types link to reports and Alice Customizing for Funders checklist in the Appendix for a guide to DCF, SAVS and VOCA funder report categories and which service types to use. 7. Associate Event Categories with Service Types Edit > Events, Letters and Materials > Event Categories DCF and SAVS Your events will be counted in different places on reports depending on the Event Categories you have created, and the Service Types you have assigned to each Event Category. Create or delete event categories you d like to have. These will be counted differently on each funder report, so create categories that you will be able to assign to the appropriate service types. Edit each category and check the box next to the appropriate Service Type. You may choose one from the DCF list and one from the SAVS list for each of your Event categories. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [18] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

19 DCF - community education - community education-youth - hospital/health care training - professional training - community awareness (does not report audience; good for media events) SAVS - Sexual assault community outreach - Sexual assault prevention education View your Service Names associations Edit > Services and Funders > Service Names Click on any Service Name and click the Service Names by Service Type button at the bottom left of the screen. Click Service Names by Characteristic at the bottom right for a list of services by characteristic. You can print these lists. Where do reports get their information? Help > Alice Help or ebook Help or PDF Help The Alice Help file for each report explains how data that you enter is channeled to each item in the report. Look in the index for Wisconsin DCF Report, Wisconsin SAVS Report, or VOCA Report-Wisconsin. Although this information is complete, some of it is quite subtle. This manual takes you through a step-by-step process for customizing and entering data for funder reports. Look at the Customizing for Funders and Entering client information sections for detailed instructions on customizing and entering data. Also see Alice Customizing for Funders checklist in the Appendix of this manual: Entering Client Information Overview About these instructions This section focuses on what needs to be entered in order to generate reports for Wisconsin funders. Many fields may not be mentioned use them if they are helpful; ignore them if they are not. Refer to your agency s data collection guidelines for what should and should not be recorded. Items needed for specific funders are marked DCF, SAVS or VOCA. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [19] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

20 Screens Blue items on the screen are mandatory. You will not be able to save your record without entering something in each of these fields unless you use the Save incomplete record feature. Tab and Shift-Tab moves between fields if you don t want to use the mouse and prefer to keep your hands on the keyboard. Dark outline around a button means it is the default button. Press the Enter key to activate whichever button is the default. Numbered buttons at the bottom will bring up more screens. Press 1 to return to the main screen. Custom button will display custom fields that your agency has created. Pencil audit button tells you when the record was last modified and by whom. Add button must be clicked in order to save a new entry. You may get popup warnings telling you that you have to fill in all mandatory fields before you can save. Change button replaces the Add button after a record has been saved. Click to save any changes you ve made since you added the record. Transfer button is used to avoid re-entering all the information when someone moves between hotline, shelter and outreach/intake forms. You can change or add information on the new form. Clear button removes all the information on the screen so you can start a new entry. It will erase any unsaved information you have on your screen, but will not delete saved records. Arrows scroll between all the records that came up in the Find tab. SI button saves an incomplete record. Use the Audit button on the Find screen to list and load records that need to have more information entered. Types of Fields Multiple Choice (such as Call Type ) allows you to select more than one option. Drop-down boxes (such as Victim Type ) allow you to choose only one item from the list. Button choices with a text box below (such as on page 2) will show different choices in the checkboxes below. A + sign will show up next to a button if anything has been entered. Custom fields click the Custom button to find them. - Required for some funder reports. (DCF, SAVS) - All custom fields for a given form are found on the Custom screen for that form. - Add your own custom fields only if you can t find a way to record that information in an existing place. If there is more than one place to enter the same information it may confuse users and you may not see your results in the reports where you expect them. Often you will find that adding an option to an existing field such as Background will do what you want, and may make it easier to find in built-in Alice reports. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [2] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

21 Saving Incomplete Records The small SI icon on intake or hotline screens can be used to save a record that needs to have more information entered later. You will still need to enter First and Last Name, Intake Date, Birth Date or Age, and Gender. When you search for a client on the Find screen, incomplete will show up below the results box when their name is highlighted. Choose the Audit button on the Find screen to pull up all incomplete records. About Client Types and Intakes Note: The shelter version of Alice uses the term Outreach which means the same as Intake in the nonresidential version (Alice NR). Alice defines several types of clients. Hotline: Callers who are not receiving in-person services. Outreach (Intake) clients who are served at your agency but do not reside in shelter. Adult Shelter adult clients who reside in shelter. Child Shelter children who reside in shelter with their parent/guardian. A client can only be one of these at a time but may move from one to another. Using the Transfer button helps copy much of their information to a new intake as a different type of client. Follow these 2 steps to be sure your clients will count on most reports. Each funder also requires other information to be entered in order for clients to count on their report. 1. Enter the client information per funder instructions on the Adult-Shelter, Child Shelter, Outreach or Intake form. 2. Enter at least one ACTIVITY (Service) for a client. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [21] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

22 Enter a Hotline Record Hotline screen PAGE 1 Operator (optional) use this if you want to be able to run hotline reports based on the person who took the call. Choices come from the list of staff and volunteers entered in Edit > Staff > Staff Names. This is independent of who has logged in to enter data. Hint: If you enter your own data, go to Tools > My Preferences to choose yourself as the default operator; then just click the < button on the hotline form to enter your name quickly. ID# - Required by DCF, VOCA and SAVS. Click the # to enter an ID automatically, or enter your own if your program has an existing system. First Name, Last Name or Anonymous Caller: Check the Anonymous Caller box and you will not have to enter First and Last Name. State: For Michigan agencies, DCF counts hotline calls with WI entered here. Date & Time: Enter the start and end time to automatically calculate the number of minutes. You can t enter minutes directly. Call Type: Some reports include only certain call types so be sure you know what you need to enter here: SAVS hotline calls only include call types "Crisis Call", "Counseling", or "Information/Referral Call" NOT Advocacy. VOCA only counts call types "Information/Referral Call" (or "Information and Referral) as telephone contacts NOT Advocacy. DCF includes all hotline calls as long as the custom field DCF Report?= Yes. Victim Type: VOCA requires something in this field in order to count on the report. Items on this list must correspond somehow to the list provided by Wisconsin VOCA. PAGE 2 Funder: Select VOCA for any hotline calls that are funded by VOCA. Why Refused DCF requires we re full for this caller to be counted in the Unmet needs section of the DCF report. SAVS requires any value to be entered in this field. CUSTOM Custom: DCF Report? DCF wants you to enter yes for ALL clients with domestic violence issues regardless of who is funding the services. Custom: SAVS Report? SAVS wants you to enter yes for ALL clients with sexual assault issues regardless of who is funding the services or whether they also have DV issues. For dual agencies, if appropriate, enter Presented with DV, getting SA services. Click the Add button to save a new record, or Change to save changes to an existing record. Other Buttons Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [22] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

23 Names button (optional): Enter the caller s children if you want to. This does not create a separate intake or hotline record for children. Names will not show up on any reports although the hotline Demographic statistics and query report will total the information entered about the dependents. History button: Shows all previous departure records for clients with this ID#. Alert List: (optional) View or enter names of clients you don t want to see again, or with whom you need to use caution. You can enter a reason for the alert as well. If you are entering a new client, you can bring up the alert list to see if their name is on it. If you use the ID#, the yellow box will pop up if you later search for a client who is on this list. Admit button: (optional) You can add a caller to a list of people who are expected to come in, but you will still need to enter an intake (or transfer their hotline call information to an intake) when they arrive. Click the Admit button any time to view a list of expected clients. Abuser button: If you want to save abuser information, do it here. Read the Abuser/Perpetrator Information form in Alice help for details about how this works. Transfer button: Move a hotline caller to an intake without having to re-enter all of the existing information. Be sure to click Add to save the intake. Lock button: Use if you have set up Departments, to prevent access to a client s hotline record to users who are not assigned to a particular department. NOTE: For the DCF and VOCA reports, Alice does not count hotline callers as clients even if you enter a service on the Activity or Roster screen. You must create an intake and enter DCF/VOCA services there in order for client demographics and services to be counted on those reports. SAVS does count hotline caller services in the Service Statistics portion of the report if the service is associated with a SAVS service type, but assigning services to hotline callers is discouraged, as this section is meant to count in-person clients. Turnaways (in person) Community > Turnaways (in person) DCF: Program Type = DV Shelter + Reason = We re full to count as an unmet need on the DCF report (added to callers with Why Refused = we re full for hotline calls). SAVS: Victim Type = Sexual Assault to count on the SAVS report (added to callers with any value in Why Refused on the hotline form). Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [23] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

24 Enter an Outreach (Intake) Client Outreach (Intake) screen Outreach clients in Alice are defined as any face-to-face clients not currently residing in shelter, including those in transitional housing. You depart Outreach clients when they stop receiving services, just as you would depart them from shelter when they leave. If you have a hotline call record for a client who comes in for services, you can find it and use the Transfer button to avoid re-entering all of the existing information before you edit and save the intake. You can also transfer a shelter client to Outreach who leaves shelter and is still receiving other services. Be sure you enter a Departure record for the shelter intake. (*= required) PAGE 1 Advocate (optional) use this if you want to be able to run hotline reports based on the person who took the call. Choices come from the list of staff and volunteers entered in Edit > Staff > Staff Names. This is independent of who has logged in to enter data. Hint: If you log in and enter all of your own data, go to Tools > My Preferences to choose yourself as the default operator; then just click the < button on the hotline form to enter your name quickly. *ID# - Required by DCF, SAVS and VOCA. Click the # to enter an ID automatically, or enter your own if your program has an existing system. (Click the M button to find existing client records with the same ID#) *First Name and Last Name. Alias (optional) if this client is known by other names you can enter them here, or find hotline or intake records that have been saved for this client under another name. The button only works after you ve saved the record. Address info (mostly optional) Michigan agencies must enter State = WI in for Wisconsin clients to count on the DCF Report. Service Site and Program (optional) If your agency needs separate reports for clients served at different sites (for example, outreach offices) or for particular programs, your administrator has likely created choices for you to choose from. *Intake date *Race & Hispanic These choices are determined by federal race reporting requirements and can t be modified. (Southeast Asian ethnicity is recorded in a custom field that is used in the DCF Report). *Client Type: adult or child. On the DCF Report, clients and their demographics will be reported as adults or children based on their age as of the most recent activity recorded. You may change this from child to adult if a child turns 18 while a client, in order to. Batterer: yes or no use for batterer intervention programs. When selected, a spouse/partner button pops up to enter optional information. Significant Other: yes or no (optional) Be sure to distinguish between significant other and secondary victim (e.g. secondary victim for a partner who is traumatized). Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [24] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

25 *Birthdate or age at intake: Entering a birth date will calculate age in other forms. Press the T button to show the age as of the current date. *Gender Victim Type: VOCA requires something in this field in order to count on the report. The options are drawn from the list provided by Wisconsin VOCA. Abuse Status: VOCA requires victim-primary or victim-secondary Phone numbers (optional) you can enter several and mark which one is safe to call. PAGE 2 (note the client s name near the top in purple on subsequent pages) Primary Language (for DCF report enter if not English) Background: Limited English proficiency for DCF, enter if not English. Background: Youth IPV Enter for DCF if applicable. Disability DCF will count if anything (except none) is entered here under Demographic Data Disability. Custom Custom: DCF Report? = Yes for any client who has a DV issue. (If you have DCF funding, make it mandatory to be sure staff don t forget.) Custom: SAVS Report? = Yes for all clients with sexual assault issues, if you have SAVS funding. Custom: Presented with DV, getting SA services = Yes, if you are a dual service agency with SAVS funding, for any client who has primary DV issues and secondary SA issues. Select this in addition to SAVS Report = Yes. Custom: Southeast Asian (if applicable) for DCF report. Click the Add button to save a new record, or Change to save changes to an existing record. Other fields may be useful to your program but are not required for Wisconsin funder reports. NOTE: You must enter at least one service for a client on the Activity or Roster screen, in order for them to be counted on any of your Wisconsin funder reports. These include nights of shelter. Services need to be associated with the correct service type in order to be counted in the correct place on each report, and in order to count on a funder report, a client must have at least one service that is associated with a service type used for that report. See Associate Service Names with service types. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [25] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

26 Enter an Adult Shelter Client Adult Shelter screen If you have a hotline call record, you can find it and use the Transfer button to avoid re-entering existing information. (*=must be filled to be able to save a complete record) PAGE 1 Advocate (optional) use this if you want to be able to run hotline reports based on the person who took the call. Choices come from the list of staff and volunteers entered in Edit > Staff > Staff Names. This is independent of who has logged in to enter data. Hint: If you enter your own data, go to Tools > My Preferences to choose yourself as the default operator; then just click the < button on the hotline form to enter your name quickly. *ID# - Required by DCF, SAVS and VOCA. Click the # to enter an ID automatically, or enter your own if your program has an existing system. (Click the M button to find existing client records with the same ID#) *First Name and Last Name Alias (optional) if this client is known by other names you can enter them here, or find hotline or intake records that have been saved for this client under another name. The button only works after you ve saved the record. Address info (mostly optional) Michigan agencies must enter State = WI for Wisconsin clients to count on the DCF Report. Service Site and Program (optional) If your agency needs separate reports for clients served at different sites (for example, outreach offices) or for particular programs, your administrator has likely created choices for you to choose from. *Intake date *Race & Hispanic These choices are determined by federal race reporting requirements and can t be modified. (Southeast Asian ethnicity is recorded in a custom field that is used in the DCF Report). *Time if you don t change this from 12am (midnight) you ll get a prompt asking you if you are sure it is correct (11:59 is yesterday). *Birthdate or age at intake: Entering a birth date will calculate age in other forms. Press the T button to show the age as of the current date. *Gender Victim Type: VOCA requires something in this field in order to count on the report. The options are drawn from the list provided by Wisconsin VOCA. Abuse Status: VOCA requires victim-primary or victim-secondary Phone numbers (optional) you can enter several and mark which one is safe to call. PAGE 2 (note the client s name near the top in purple on subsequent pages) Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [26] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212

27 Primary Language (for DCF report enter if not English) Background: Limited English proficiency for DCF, enter if not English. Background: Youth IPV Enter for DCF if applicable. Disability DCF will count if anything is entered here under Demographic Data Disability. Custom Custom: DCF Report? = Yes for any client who has a DV issue. (If you have DCF funding, make it mandatory to be sure staff don t forget.) Custom: SAVS Report? = Yes for all clients with sexual assault issues, if you have SAVS funding. Custom: Presented with DV, getting SA services = Yes, in addition to SAVS Report = Yes, for any client who has primary DV issues and secondary SA issues, if you are a dual service agency with SAVS funding. Custom: Southeast Asian (if applicable) for DCF report. Click the Add button to save a new record, or Change to save changes to an existing record. Other fields may be useful to your program but are not required for Wisconsin funder reports. NOTE: You must enter at least one service for a client on the Activity or Roster screen, in order for them to be counted on any of your Wisconsin funder reports. These include nights of shelter. Services need to be associated with the correct service type in order to be counted in the correct place on each report, and in order to count on a funder report, a client must have at least one service that is associated with a service type used for that report. See Associate Service Names with service types. Alice Manual for Wisconsin Advocates [27] Back to Contents Updated 7/1/212