ServicePoint Supportive Service Workflow for CoC SSO Projects

ServicePoint Supportive Service Workflow for CoC SSO Projects 8/27/2015 10/20/2015 Update 1

Overview Supportive Service projects (SSOs) are an important piece of the process of ending homelessness in our community. While not directly offering a place to stay for the night, SSOs offer the additional supports and assistance that can make a client more successful in escaping homelessness. Because these projects are more flexible in their offerings than other types of projects such as shelters, it is vital to accurately record client demographics, statuses and services offered, as detailed below, in order to prove the success of the project. Preparing for Data Entry Entering client data into the LSNDC ServicePoint database is an important, mandated part of the record-keeping process for service providers receiving Continuum of Care (CoC) and Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) funding. This data is used to create reports for these programs that represent all of your project s hard work. To ensure that the most accurate information, pay attention to the following points: If you enter data for multiple providers, be sure to use Enter Data As to select the correct provider. Data entered under the wrong provider will cause reports to show missing values. Make sure that if you are not entering data live that you use Back Date Mode to set the system to the date that the client data was gathered. Remember to set all Entries to 8:00:00 AM, all Exits to 5:00:00 PM, and all Services and Interims to 1:00:00 PM. This will make data correction easier and simpler. Make sure that you have collected all the data you will need to enter before signing into ServicePoint. A form is available to help capture that data if you need it; please contact the HMIS office for a copy. LSNDC Policy requires that all data for ServicePoint be entered within 5 business days, except for Emergency Shelters, who need to enter data within 2 business days. Remember: this database records personal, private information on your clients! You must be aware of your data s security at all times. Do not enter data where/when others can observe your screen, never leave your screen open and unattended, and if you print out/email client names and numbers, be sure to shred/delete the information when you are done with it. 2

Creating an Entry at Client Intake Sign into ServicePoint. Your user name is your first initial and your last name, and your password must have at least 8 characters, with 2 being numbers. Your password will change every 45 days, so plan accordingly. If you are entering data for multiple providers, Enter Data As the appropriate provider by clicking on the appropriate select icon. (Note: Anywhere you see a select icon the green plus sign you can use that to choose which items to add.) If you are not entering data as you collect it, then set the Back Date Mode for the appropriate date and time. NOTE: the top section of the screen will turn yellow while in Back Date Mode. 3

Enter ClientPoint and Search for your client. Enter the client s full name, which should provide enough information to find your client. Review the search responses, and compare names, last four digits of Social Security Numbers and birthdates to find your client. There may be duplicates, or there may be differences in the spelling of the name or the birthdate or the SSN. You can enter the Client Record and see if there is any additional information listed that confirms that this is/is not your client. 4

If the client is not listed, then you can create a client by adding the Name Data Quality, Social Security Number, Social Security Number Data Quality and US Military Veteran information, then selecting Add New Client With This Information. NOTE: you cannot create a client until you have first completed a search. When you enter the client record, you will see two rows of tabs at the top of the screen. These tabs organize the data entry process. The Client Information tab on the top row of tabs collects and organizes client data, while the Service Transactions tab collects and organizes information about the services you provide to the client while they are part of your project. The data entry process basically follows the tabs on the bottom row in order from left to right as a helpful reminder of what to do next. Some providers are set to automatically open to the Client Summary tab. On this screen, you can see a history of the client s entries, exits, VI-SPDAT scores and so on. NOTE: do NOT enter data from this screen unless that is part of your project s workflow. 5

Other providers automatically open on the Client Profile tab. On this screen, you can record the client s demographic and other data that does not directly relate to the client s entry into your project. To begin entering data, you will need to be on the Client Profile tab, and you will need to review the Client Record. If there is data that is missing or that you know beyond a doubt is incorrect (because you have paperwork to back it up), then click on the pencil icon to open the assessment. (Note: anywhere you see this pencil icon, clicking on it will allow you to open and edit.) 6

You will see several Data Quality questions that give you the ability to explain any issues with what the client reports for their Name, Social Security Number, and Date of Birth. With these drop-down menus, you can say if the client provided a full or partial answer, did not know or refused to answer (Client Doesn t Know and Client Refused), or if you did not collect the data yet and will enter it when you do collect it (Data Not Collected). NOTE: the client always has the right to refuse to answer any question. As well, all fields answered as Data Not Collected will show in reports as a Null or Missing, which will reflect poorly on your project. Once you have verified and/or entered the data in the Client Record (NOTE: this is the data that is used to search for client records, so be sure that if you make any changes, that you have evidence to support your changes), then proceed to the Client Demographics assessment below. In the Client Demographics assessment, you will need to click on the pencil and add the Date of Birth, Date of Birth Type, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the window that appears. There are specific choices listed for each question in a drop-down list. Note that the data you enter has to be what the client gives. You are to record the client s self-identification, even if you believe that you know differently. For Gender, the choices include male, female, transgendered male to female, transgendered female to male, other, don t know, refused, and data not collected. If 7

your client does identify as transgendered, be sure to find out which. If your client chooses a different option (such as genderfluid, non-binary, etc.), be sure to record their choice under If Other Gender, specify. For Primary Race, the choices include American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Black/African-American, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, White, don t know, refused, and data not collected. You can record a Secondary Race ONLY if the client is multi-racial; otherwise leave it as Select-. For Ethnicity, the choices are Hispanic/Latino, Non-Hispanic/Non-Latino, don t know, refused and data not collected. Note that Hispanic/Latino is NOT a race; it is recorded here with race information. (Note: remember that you are recording whatever the client self-identifies as, so record whatever answer they provide first. If you and/or the client have questions about how to determine race and/or ethnicity for recording, please contact the HMIS Office for assistance.) In the next assessment, named Lafayette: Additional Profile Information, you will record any additional information that your project determines is important. It is helpful to record the client s County/Parish of Origin, which is where the client came to you from (i.e.: if the client was living in Acadia Parish and traveled to Lafayette to receive your services, then you would answer Acadia ) so that funding reports can be created to show areas that you service. Please do not ever choose Nationwide or Statewide as answers. As well, information about the state and parish the client was born in is useful to record, if you have that. The other questions listed are not required, but are available if the information would be useful to record. As well, you have the option to add an emergency contact listing here. This can be a very helpful piece of information to have should something happen to the client, et cetera. 8

To add Emergency Contact Information, click on the Add button and then enter the information that you have gathered. At a minimum, please include the Contact Type, Contact s Name, Phone Number (add the main phone number here, even if it is a cell phone), and Relationship to Client. The Start Date should be the date that the client entered your project, and the End Date should only be used if the client no longer wants to use this person as their emergency contact. By entering at least that data, you will be able to see a contact name and phone number as well as relationship without having to enter the sub-assessment. (Any time you see a grey box like this with an Add function, it is called a sub-assessment.) At this point, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on Save (do NOT click on Save & Exit, or you will be sent back to the search screen), then scroll back to the top of the screen to advance to the next tab. The next tab is Households. A household is defined as those people who share a housing unit, whether related or not. If your project only serves individuals who do not share a housing unit with another, then you do not need to create a household, but you may want to view this tab to see if your client has ever been associated with a household in ServicePoint. If your project serves families or similar groupings, then you will need to create a household to associate all the client data for reporting purposes. 9

To create an entirely new household, click on Start New Household. The Household assessment will open, allowing you to add the remaining members and assign their roles. You will need to assign a Household Type. Be specific in your selection, but not overly detailed (Male Single Parent is better than Single Parent, but it is not necessary to be as specific as Separated or Divorced.) You will now be able to search and add other clients to the household. To add a client that you have found in the search, click on the select icon, and they will appear in the Selected Clients section. If other household members are not in the system, you can add them using the Add New Client With This Information button. NOTE: if you need to remove a wrong choice from the selected list, click on the remove icon. Once you have all household members listed, click on Continue. 10

Once you have created your household, designate a Head of Household by selecting Yes for Head of Household, and the system will change Relationship to Head of Household to Self. Select a Relationship to Head of Household for all other members. Click on Save & Exit. Remember to complete the Client Profile tab for all household members. If there is already a household in the system, check the household shown to see if it matches the composition of the group of clients. Search using the head of household. Be aware, this client may have been a member of another household but not the head, such as a daughter who has left her mother s household and has created a new household of her own with her children. On this tab, you can see all household members, which one is the head of household, how the other members are related to the head of household, when each person joined the household (for example, an infant who was born into an already existing household will have a later Joined Household date), and how many households each member is associated with. By clicking on the black arrowhead, you can open up the Previous Households section to see if the head of household has left any other households. A member leaves a household when they no longer reside with that group of people, for whatever reason; they can rejoin again, and may do so multiple times. 11

If there is a household with all, or even most of the clients that are presenting to your project, you can modify and/or use it. Pay attention to the number showing next to the Household Type once you ve chosen the household to use and be sure to use that number throughout your data entry. NOTE: There may be more than one household listed; be sure to review all of them before making any changes! Duplicate households CANNOT be merged. To review and/or edit the household that you have chosen, click on Manage Household open the household assessment. In the Household assessment, you can remove, rejoin, add and delete individual household members to reflect the household s current composition. You can also designate how the various members relate to the head of household, and see the total household s income. To remove a household member, use the remove icon, and enter the date that the person left. To join someone back into the household, go into the Previous Household Members section and use the rejoin icon, adding the appropriate date. To delete a household member who should never have been associated with the household, click on Add/Delete Household Members and click on the delete icon. NOTE: Before you attempt to delete a household member, call the HMIS office first!! 12

To add a new member to the household, click on Add/Delete Household Members, and then click on the black arrow next to Add Clients to Household. The process is exactly the same as creating the household as described above. Once the household represents the current makeup of the clients who are entering your project, click on Save & Exit, then move on to the next tab, ROI. ROI stands for Release of Information, which allows the client to determine whether their data can be shared with other providers. NOTE: the ROI is not permission to collect data as soon as you accept a client into your program you must collect and enter the client s data, although they have the right to refuse to answer any question. You MUST create an ROI for every client, whether they give or refuse permission to share. Under the client s name, you will be able to tell the ROI status: None means that no ROI has been done; Ends means that the client has allowed sharing; and Ends (denied) means that the client has refused sharing. 13

To create an ROI, click on Add Release of Information to pull up the assessment. If the client is part of a household, make sure that all members that are covered by the ROI are checked off the large box by the household type will select everyone. Make sure that the Provider is correct ; if not, you need to go into Enter Data As mode as the correct provider. Select the correct Release Granted option: Yes or No. The Start Date should be the date of intake; the End Date should be one year later. Documentation has a pull down menu, but the answer should be, Signed Statement from Client, reflecting the signed ROI document in the client s file. You can add your initials under Witness if you saw the client signing the document. Now that the ROI is completed, go to the next tab, named Entry/Exit, and create the Entry. In ServicePoint, the Entry is used to create a snapshot of the client s situation at the intake into your project. It is very important to capture this data completely and accurately, as project performance is judged by comparing information at Entry and at Exit. To create an Entry, click on Add Entry/Exit to open the assessment. The initial assessment will appear; if the client is part of a household, make sure that all appropriate members are checked off. NOTE: if there are people listed who are not part of the household entering your project, do NOT use the large checkbox next to the household type click on the checkbox next to each person entering your project. Double check that the Provider is correct ; if it is not, you will have to go into Enter Data As mode and make the correction. The entry Type will depend on the source of 14

the funding that you receive for the project; this workflow will assume that the project is a HUD funded CoC or ESG project, so choose HUD. The Start Date is the date of the intake, and the time should be set for 8:00 AM. (Check with the HMIS Office if you want to use a different day/time.) Click on Save & Continue. The entry assessment will open, showing the Provider, type and associated household members at the very top. The assessment questions shown on the HUD CoC and ESG Entry assessment are required for all HUD CoC and ESG funded projects. Most questions have a standard set of answers: Yes, No, Client Doesn t Know, Client Refused, and Data Not Collected. Client Doesn t Know and Client Refused are to be used when the client either cannot respond or refuses to answer the question (the client always has the right to refuse to answer). Data Not Collected is only to be used for two situations: for outreach programs who are making contact with people on the streets and are collecting data in bits and pieces, and when a client was not asked a question and is unavailable to be asked. In this latter situation, this answer will pull up in reports as Missing, and will reflect poorly on the project. The first set of questions on the assessment are pulled in from the demographic section completed earlier, so move down to the question Does the client have a disabling condition? If you answer this question Yes, you must record the condition in the Disabilities subassessment further down, while No answers should show no active conditions. 15

The next question, Residence Prior to Entry, will establish if a client was homeless before entering your project. To answer, record where the client was the night before entry. Be sure that you understand the HUD Homeless definition and the requirements of your project check with the HMIS Office if you are unsure. (Note: if you choose Other as your answer, then you will need to record the answer in the If Other Type of Residence, specify text box.) Length of Stay in Previous Place records how long the client was at the location you just recorded; answer from the drop-down menu. Relationship to Head of Household must be answered for each member of the household, including the Head (as Self (Head of Household)); answer from the dropdown menu. Client Location records the CoC code where the services were rendered. For ARCH projects, the answer will always be LA-500. The next set of questions determines if the client meets the HUD definition of Chronic Homelessness. You should know the HUD definition of Chronic Homelessness in order to know how to answer these questions. Client entering from the streets, ES or SH Where did your client sleep last night? If it was a place not meant for human habitation, an Emergency Shelter, or a hotel/motel paid for by an agency, etc., then answer Yes. If Yes for Client entering from streets, ES or SH Approximate date started What is the approximate date that this period of homelessness began? If the date isn t exact, then use the same day as the entry (i.e.: if the client is entering on 10/13, and says s/he became homeless in January, use 1/13). 16

Regardless of where they stayed last night Number of times the client has been on the streets, in ES, or SH in the past three years including today How many periods of homelessness has the client experienced? NOTE: Use Never in the 3 years if the client is not and has never been homeless. Total number of months homeless on the street, in ES or SH in the past three years How many months over the past three years has the client been homeless? Count one day during a calendar month as one full month; for example, if a client was homeless from October 25 th to November 2 nd, HUD considers this 2 months. Length of Time Homeless Status Documented? Do you have documentation from an Outreach project staff member or emergency shelter to prove the client was homeless for the length of time that you have just entered? Answer Yes or No. Next, complete the questions about the client s income. For this assessment, only record sources of income that are predictable and regular, such as SSI, disability payments, unemployment and earned income. Do not include income from gathering cans, irregular day jobs, and so on. If a child is receiving income, record it under the head of household. There are three questions related to income. Total Monthly Income is where you record amount the client receives from of all sources of income. Income from Any Source is a yes/no question that indicates whether the client is receiving a regular, predictable source of income. And Monthly Income is a subassessment where you list each source of income and the amount received. Please understand that all three answers MUST agree! If the client is not receiving any income, there cannot be an amount listed in Total Monthly Income or any source of income listed in Monthly Income without an end date. If there are income sources listed in Monthly Income, they must all add up to the amount in Total Monthly Income and Income from Any Source must say Yes. To add income sources to the Monthly Income subassessment, first check to see if that amount is already listed. NOTE: you can see the entire list of all sources of income 17

entered by clicking on the magnifying glass next to the Monthly Income title. If the client reports an income source that is not listed or has been ended, click on Add to open the subassessment. Enter the monthly amount received from this source, and choose the source from the drop-down list. The source should match something in this list do not use Other, it will not show in the reports. If the client receives multiple amounts from a similar source, such as having two jobs, enter the combined monthly amount. If you need to comment on the source or amount, use the If Other, Please Specify box. How often?should always be Monthly, and Receiving Income Source should always be Yes. The Start Dateis the day that the client enters the project, and there should be no End Date. Do not enter anything into Annual Income, unless your project is using that for reporting; check with your HMIS Office or your supervisor. Click Save if that is the only source of income, or Save and Add Another to open a new question box. Repeat for each income source until all of the client s income is recorded. NOTE: if a source of income is shown that the client no longer receives, or receives a different amount than listed, add an End Date of the day before the Entry date. For example, if a client is entering on 2/1, and is no longer receiving SSI, then the End Date should be 1/31. If the client is receiving a different amount, create a new source record with the current amount and a Start Date that matches the entry date. Do not ever blank out or write over the information already there! Once you have completed entering the client s income sources, you will see on the top right corner of the income subassessment the words HUD Verification in blue, with a symbol next to it. HUD wants to know whether the client is receiving income from each of the different categories of sources in the drop-down list or not, so you must have a current, active answer for each one. Rather than review the list, use this verification icon 18

to check for completeness. If you see a green checkmark, you can proceed to the next subassessment. If you see a red triangle, that means data is missing, and you will need to click on the symbol to open the verification box. The verification box lists all of the different income sources contained in the drop-down list, along with 4 columns of radio buttons: Yes, No, Data Not Collected, and Incomplete. To complete the verification, all sources must have the button under Yes, No, or Data Not Collected marked, and none of the buttons under Incomplete marked. Go to the top of the box and select No to move the remaining marks from the Incomplete column to the No column. Click on Save & Exit to complete the verification and change the red triangle to the green checkmark. NOTE: Make sure to enter or correct any current sources of income before using the Verification process! Otherwise, you will risk overwriting Yes answers with a No. (Remember: Data Not Collected is intended to be used by Outreach-type projects that get data through building relationships. For all other projects, any Data Not Collected answers come up as a Missing in reports, and this will reflect poorly on your project. Do not use Data Not Collected unless absolutely necessary.) 19

When completed, the subassessment will display the first 5 sources. Use the First, Previous, Next, and Last buttons to navigate through the list of sources as needed. The next subassessment is to collect information on Non-Cash Benefits. These are for benefits that are not paid out in cash money or checks, but in vouchers or services. Examples include SNAP (Food Stamps), WIC and Section 8 vouchers. The process will be exactly the same as for the income subassessment above. First, make sure that you answer the Non-cash benefit from any source question. If the client does not receive any non-cash benefits, this question MUST read No, if the client does, this question MUST read Yes. If the client is receiving non-cash benefits, check to see if the type and amount are already listed. If not, click on Add to open the source question box. Only add the Amount of Non-Cash Benefit for items with a definite monetary amount, such as food stamps. Select the Source of Non-Cash Benefit from the drop-down menu, and select Yes for Receiving Benefit?. Set the Start Date for the date of entry, and do not add an End Date. Click on Save, or Save and Add Another, as appropriate. 20

NOTE: if a non-cash benefit source is shown that the client no longer receives, or receives a different amount than listed, add an End Date of the day before the Entry date. For example, if a client is entering on 2/1, and is no longer receiving SNAP, then the End Date should be 1/31. If the client is receiving a different amount, create a new source record with the current amount and a Start Date that matches the entry date. Do not ever blank out or write over the information already there! After entering the client s non-cash benefit sources, check the HUD Verification symbol for a green checkmark, or red triangle. If you see a triangle, click on it to open the verification box. To complete the verification, go to the top of the box and select No. This will move the remaining marks from the Incomplete column to the No column. (See the information above regarding Data Not Collected; do not mark this column unless you have to.) Click on Save & Exit to complete the verification and change the red triangle to the green checkmark. Repeat this process for the Health Insurance subassessment. Before editing the subassessment, make sure that you answer the Covered by Health Insurance question first! If the client does not have health insurance, this question MUST read No; if the client does, this question MUST read Yes. If the client has health insurance, click on Add to open the source question box. The Start Date should be the date of entry. Select the Health Insurance Type from the drop-down menu, and select Yes for Covered?. There are two additional questions that begin with (HOPWA) for projects receiving a HOPWA grant, no-one else answers these questions. Do not add an End Date. Click on Save, or Save and Add Another, as appropriate. 21

NOTE: Record LAChip as State Children s Health Insurance Program under each child receiving it, and record Louisiana Health Access Program (LA HAP) under State Health Insurance for Adults. NOTE: if an insurance source is shown and the client is no longer receiving it, add an End Date of the day before the Entry date. For example, if a client is entering on 2/1, and is no longer receiving Medicaid, then the End Date should be 1/31. Do not ever blank out or write over the information already there! After entering all of the client s health insurance sources check the HUD Verification symbol, and if it is a red triangle, click on the symbol to open the verification box. To complete the verification, go to the top of the box and select No to move the remaining marks to the No column. (See the information above regarding Data Not Collected; do not mark this column unless you have to.) Click on Save & Exit to complete the verification and change the red triangle to the green checkmark. 22

Finally, enter the client s disability information into the Disabilities subassessment. First, make sure that the Does the client have a disabling condition? question that you answered at the top of the assessment agrees with the information in this subassessment (so that it reads Yes if you are entering disability information or it is already recorded, and No if the client does not report any disabilities). To enter disability information, click on Add to open the disability question box. Select the Disability Type from the drop-down menu, and answer (If yes) Currently receiving services or treatment? and Above condition is going to be long term? appropriately. There is also a set of six questions about HIV/AIDS T-Cell counts that are only to be answered by projects receiving HOPWA funding no one else should answer them. The Start Date should be the date of entry, and Disability Determination is Yes. The answer to If Yes, Expected to be of long-continued and indefinite duration and substantially impairs ability to live independently should match the answer to 23

Above condition going to be long term?. If you have some kind of documentation of this disability (preferably a Social Security Disability check stub), answer If Yes, Documentation of the disability and severity on file? as Yes. There are two additional questions that begin with (PATH) for projects receiving a PATH grant; no-one else answers these questions. Finally, answer Disability verification on file? the same way you answered If Yes, Documentation of the disability and severity on file?. At the end, add a description of the disability (such as Bipolar disorder or COPD ) into Note on Disability. If the client has two or more disabling conditions that would fall under the same Disability Type, record one type and list all of the conditions in Note on Disability. Click on Save, or Save and Add Another, as appropriate. After entering all of the client s disabilities, check the HUD Verification symbol and if it is a red triangle, click on the symbol to open the verification box. To complete the verification, go to the top of the box and select No to move the remaining marks to the 24

No column. (See the information above regarding Data Not Collected; do not mark this column unless you have to.) Click on Save & Exit to complete the verification. Domestic violence victim/survivor is answered Yes or No. If yes for Domestic violence victim/survivor, when experience occurred shows when the last episode occurred. If the client answered No, leave this question blank. If yes for Domestic Violence Victim/Survivor, are you currently fleeing? is Yes if the client is a survivor leaving a situation where his/her immediate safety is at risk. This could be current abuse or a former abuser who has resurfaced, with abuser defined as a person (intimate partner, other family member, etc.) who exerts control and power of any type over the client. If the client is not a survivor, leave this blank; if s/he is not fleeing, answer No. The remaining questions on the entry assessment are dedicated to specific project types, which do not fall under the description of Supportive Services. The Outreach subassessment is for street outreach and PATH projects only, and In Permanent Housing along with If yes, Date of Move-In are dedicated to Rapid Rehousing projects. There are specific workflows for each of these types of project that will explain how to answer these questions. For Supportive Service projects, the entry assessment is now complete for this client. If the client is an individual, click on Save & Exit, and move on to the Case Manager tab to complete the entry process. 25

If the client is the head of a household, do NOT forget to answer the entry assessments for all other members of the household! Once the entry assessment is completed for the head of household, click on Save and then scroll to the top of the assessment form. On the left of the screen next to the assessment will be a list of all household members. You MUST complete an assessment for each member of the household, even infants. When the entry assessment has been completed and saved for a member of the household, the check mark next to the client s name will turn green. Click on the name of the next person in the household to pull up that client s assessment. NOTE: for children, the items that MUST be answered uniquely include Relationship to Head of Household, Health Insurance, and Disabilities; otherwise, their assessments can reflect the head of household s.) Once all members of the household have a completed assessment, click on Save & Exit. Once the entry is completed, you can assign yourself as Case Manager for reporting purposes. To do this, click on the Case Managers tab, then select the household if appropriate. To assign yourself as the Case Manager, click on Me, then on Add Case Manager. 26

For some projects, the entry process ends at this point. Other projects need to add services at entry, such as shelter stays, case management, and/or life skills training. To do that, click on the Service Transactions tab above the Case Managers tab. You will open a dashboard with multiple options, however only two of them will be used frequently: Add Service, and View Entire Service History. To add a service, click on Add Service, include the appropriate household members, and set the Start Date and End Date. Set the Start Date time to 1:00 PM. If the service is a once-and-done event, such as distributing clothing, set the End Date for the same day but later (such as 2 pm). If the service is on-going while the client is in the project, such as case management or life-skills training, then leave the End Date blank and fill it in at the client s exit. Next, select the Service Type. There will be a dropdown list of services, and you will need to create a separate service for each type that the client receives. If you provide a service while the client is in your program, such as a one-time transportation service, record that service for the day that you provided it. Once the dates and times are completed, click on Save & Continue. 27

Next, ignore the various questions and scroll down to the very bottom of the section to Need Information. If your service is ongoing (no End Date was entered), set the Need Status to In Progress and leave Outcome of Need blank. If the service has been completed (an End Date was entered), set the Need Status to Closed and the Outcome of Need to Fully Met. Click on Save & Exit. When you click on View Entire Service History, you will see each Service paired up with a matching Need, as well as the Date and Need Status/Outcome. To leave, click on Exit. 28

Updating Client Information In order to determine project performance, HUD compares the client s status between entry and exit in three areas: client total income, client earned income, and housing status (homeless vs. stably housed). For clients who have not exited but have been in the project 364 days or longer, an Annual Assessment must be done on the day before the client s anniversary date. As well, it is important to update client data when you discover a change, such as an increase or decrease in income. To create an update, enter the client s record and click on the Entry/Exit tab. Next to the client s entry into your project is an icon marked Interims. Click on that icon to create your interim update. The Interim Reviews box will appear; click on Add Interim Review. Include household members, and set the Interim Review Type to Annual Update for the Annual Assessment, or Update for all others. (Date the Annual Assessment the day before the client s anniversary date. So, if the client s entry date was 1/15/2014, then there needs to be an annual update for 1/14/2015.) Set the Review Date time for 1:00 pm, and click on Save and Continue. The interim assessment is a short version of the entry assessment showing only items that are likely to change, including the income, non-cash benefits, health insurance and 29

disabilities subassessments. To record a change in one of these subassessments, you will need to first locate the appropriate source data and add an End Date to show it has changed. As an example, the client has been notified that he will be receiving SSI on January 1, so you will locate the current SSI information and review it. The Receiving Income Source? column shows that the client is not receiving SSI. To add the end date, click on the pencil next to SSI data. The End Date will be the day before the new SSI amount, which is 12/31. The End Date can be either the day before a known change, like an SSI increase, is to take effect or the day before the client told you the new information. Click on Save and Add Another. 30

Record the new information in the box that appeared. The Start Date should be the day the new amount started, which is the day after the end date of the old amount. In this example, the client started receiving SSI on January 1, so the old record was ended on December 31, the last day the client s SSI status was NO, and the new record starts on January 1. Click on Save. Make sure to make any changes to the Total Monthly Income and Income from Any Source questions they still must agree! By ending the earlier amount and adding a new record, it is possible to record any changes in the client s status while they are in your project and show off the results of your work. Remember, NEVER write over old amounts, sources, or dates; end the old the day before and enter the new. Follow this process for any changes in income, noncash benefits, health insurance and disability status. 31

Once all changes have been recorded, click on Save to update the record of the other household members, or Save & Exit if complete. NOTE: Remember that ALL clients who have been in your project for 364 days or longer MUST have an Annual Assessment, whether the client s status has changed or not! To update Service Information at any time, just enter the Service Transactions tab and select Add Service, then complete the record the same way you would at entry. Client Exit When a client is leaving your project, you will need to close any open services before completing an exit assessment. To see if you have any services to close, first navigate to the Service Transactions tab and click on View Entire Service History. Open services will be noted in the column for Need Status/Outcome by saying In Progress. When you see a service with this status, click on the pencil for the service (not the need) to edit. 32

To close the service, enter the exit date as the End Date, and set the time for 1:00 PM. Next, change the Need Status to Closed, then change the Outcome of Need to Fully Met, Partially Met or Not Met, as appropriate. Click on Save & Exit when done. Before creating your exit, all of the services you have recorded should have a status of Closed/Fully Met. You will also have to close yourself as Case Manager. To do that, go to the Case Managers tab and click on the pencil next to your name. Add the exit date to the End Date, and click on Save Case Manager. 33

Now, you are ready to exit the client. Go to the Entry/Exit tab and click on the pencil next to the empty Exit Date box. Set the Exit Date for the day that the client left or that you determined that the client is no longer a part of your project. Set the time for 5:00 PM. Select the appropriate Reason for Leaving. If the client is no longer attending your project and you don t know his or her whereabouts, use Unknown/Disappeared. If you select Other, use If Other, Specify to explain. Then select a Destination. This answer will help HUD determine if the client has become stably housed, so answer accurately. If your client has disappeared without undergoing an exit interview, select No exit interview completed. If you select Other, enter the correct information in If Other, Specify. Click on Save & Continue. The exit assessment is very similar to the interim and annual update assessments. As mentioned above, you will need to report any changes to the client s status at the time of exit, such as changes in income, non-cash benefits, health insurance and disabilities. 34

Be sure that when you are recording these changes that you are ending the old information and creating a new record so that the performance report can track the client s progress during their time in your project. There are several items listed below the Disabilities subassessment that do not need to be addressed by Supportive Service projects, including the Outreach subassessment, and the Assessment Disposition and Housing Assessment fields. Once you have completed reviewing the Disabilities subassessment, click on Save to update information about other members of the household. Once all household members have been updated, click on Save & Exit. Your client is now exited. 35