One of the more challenging parts of my job is working with users who show up to a new user training having never used a computer. Or who have, but they just do not feel comfortable with computers. It’s difficult enough being a case manager without also having to learn basic computer skills plus entering data about humans (which is complex by nature) into ServicePoint, then reporting on that data. This situation brings up many questions and I have noticed that various HMIS implementations address them in different ways. In an implementation of 80 counties, we have to really think out our strategy as far as how much time we can spend doing things for the users that they can do for themselves. One of my strategies is to focus on empowering users to run their own reports and think about the system, as much as possible, in terms of generalities. For some, this strategy does not work. They need to hear micro steps verbally and sometimes even then it is a struggle. So you have to do as much hand holding as is necessary but no more. It’s a really tricky line to walk, and I think I have much to learn about where that line is.
Some of the things I do to help struggling users use the system successfully are:
- Use Provider Admin to steer them in the right direction. Set up all your providers in a similar manner. Use the Summary Tab and arrange the dashlets in the order of the workflow. Every provider is set up the same so that users with more than one provider feel at home regardless of which provider they’re entering data for.
- Use Provider Admin to steer them AWAY from the WRONG direction. When we have to attach users to a parent provider, some of these users will consistently forget to click Enter Data As (EDA). It is drilled again and again in the New User Training, but sometimes it just does not sink in. For these cases, we use Provider Admin settings to remind them that they should not be entering data into that parent provider. One of the actions we took to prevent this is we added an assessment called “PLEASE CLICK ENTER DATA AS!”. And in it, we put a Header named something similar, and then no questions at all. We attached this to the worst offenders’ parent providers from Assessment Admin. In Provider Admin, we go to Modules, then ClientPoint, check the Attach Assessment to Summary Tab box (we normally have it off), and uncheck all the Dashlets. Then in the Assessments tab, we attach that new assessment named Please Click Enter Data As to the Summary Tab. This makes that assessment with the message we want show up on all client records pulled up as that parent provider. We also removed all the other assessments, though doing this prevents users at that level from looking at client data in the parent provider, but to me it is less important that they can view client data at the parent provider level than it is that they do not enter data at that level. This setup trick is not airtight, because users can still save an Entry Exit to that parent provider if they really try, but it has cut back on the amount of data entered into parent providers.
- Go easy on drastic changes. Too much of a change to workflow at once can put off the users who are struggling.
- Set up a Knowledge Base. We use HelpSpot, but short of purchasing a helpdesk system, you could simply maintain a page on your company’s website to link to some guidance documents that describe how to do various things. Use lots of screenshots!!!
- Stay in contact with your users. Send out helpful, relevant, and regular emails.
- Make sure that someone at every agency has an ART license. Empower your users to run their own reports. This is really important because the people entering the data need access to it, not just to report to HUD, or so that you don’t have to do it (though that is important too), but because when users see their data in aggregate, it does something to them. Things fall into place, or they see how things do not fall into place because of data quality or because of various other things that we, in our black shiny building (we are in a black shiny building), would not understand.
- Realize that sometimes you will have to sit on the phone with or visit in person those who are really struggling.
- Get rid of the need to backdate if possible. Backdating is so 2010!! Our implementation does not use ShelterPoint (yet) or CallPoint or many of the other modules more urban implementations use, so it is possible that backdating has to stay for some implementations. But if you only make your assessments available in the Entry Exit Assessment Display area of the Assessments tab in Provider Admin, users will not ever need to backdate, especially if you have implemented Interims and Followups. Why? Because entering assessment data in the Entry Exit window automatically backdates your assessment data to match the Entry Date (or Exit Date whichever you’re in). Therefore we do not show assessments anywhere except in the Entry Exits. Not the Client Profile, and not the Client Summary. The one place you cannot control whether users access the assessments or not is the Assessments tab in the Client record, but we just try to be very clear in the training that they should not edit data in the Assessments tab, only view it. I think that training users to backdate where it isn’t necessary ratchets up the complexity of the task, and intimidates users.
- Create custom reports for your users and only include the data they need to see. More data is not always better. You know the needs of your users better than Bowman could. Their reports are great in that they give lots of data, but a report with 25 columns on one page is too much for users to find useful. At the very least, you can rename column headings and slide some of the more irrelevant columns (like Group ID or Entry Exit ID) closed so that they do not show (do not remove them, however, because the logic will change). Another way to help break down the reports into something more readable is to duplicate a tab (or “report” in ART-speak) you would like the users to see and pre-set some Input Controls so that the users won’t need to. Rename the tab appropriately.
Anyway, hopefully these things can help with leveling off some of the anxiety your users may have in regards to entering data into ServicePoint. Leave a comment to add to this or make suggestions about anything I’ve said here! Hope to hear other ways of making life easier for the greenest of our users!
